Paper Blogs

Social software, such as a blog, is all about sharing and exchanging ideas to build new ideas and new knowledge. Room 102 is learning about blogging. Very few students read any blogs – except this one, of course ;-) 

We searched the web and read several interesting blogs. We studied the layout and graphics of several award winning student blogs. We brainstormed several ideas for blogging which included  sports, hobbies, daily journal, DIY projects, and current events.

We’ve now completed a Blogging Workshop Unit. Students learned to blog with paper blogs. What? Paper? That's right! It’s a clever way to introduce fifth graders to the idea of blogging and commenting. Students were given poster boards and instructed to create, decorate, and personalize their blogs. This represents customizing the appearance of blogs on hosting sites. Next, they wrote a post to share with classmates. 

Students were then allowed to post comments on blogs. The comments were written on sticky notes and attached to individual blogs. They practiced writing purposeful comments. Students were anxious to read the comments and get feedback from peers.  

This Blogging Workshop was a fun way to introduce the idea of blogging to a room full of middle school students.

The intent now is to get students blogging on the web. We are using the multimedia blog found on our school fusion page. It is a safe and secure blog host. Students are assigned code names. The plan is generating a great deal of excitement among student writers. Click the icon to follow Room 102's student bloggers. 

Thank you Leonard Low and Karen McMillan for sharing this lesson on paper blogs.